The Atlantic hurricane season has its first named storm: Tropical Storm Arthur. This storm has emerged from the remnants of the third named storm of the eastern Pacific hurricane season.
Tropical Storm Arthur developed off the Texas coast, originating partly from the remains of Tropical Storm Christina, which briefly existed in the eastern Pacific. These remnants traveled over Central America and entered the Gulf of Mexico, where they merged with another atmospheric disturbance to form Arthur.
“Arthur’s genesis, like most genesis events in the western Gulf, was messy, but I think a westward-moving tropical wave was probably the primary seed for this system, with a boost from Christina’s remnants,” says Phil Klotzbach, an atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University, who studies hurricanes.
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Arthur and Christina aren’t technically considered the same storm, but there have been previous instances where storms have crossed over Central America, surviving somewhat intact though weakened. Typically, these crossings occur in the opposite direction. Historically, 21 storms have been recognized as crossing between the Atlantic and Pacific. Of these, only five have moved from the Pacific to the Atlantic. According to Klotzbach, the most recent crossings were Tropical Storm Bonnie and Tropical Storm Julia in 2022, both moving from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
In 2000, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) decided that storms making such crossings and retaining at least tropical storm strength would keep their original names.
The fact that the Pacific is on its third named storm while the Atlantic is only on its first is not unusual. The Pacific hurricane season begins in mid-May, whereas the Atlantic season starts on June 1. Additionally, this year’s El Niño is expected to intensify Pacific storms, while generally suppressing storm development in the Atlantic.
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